Android apps on PlayBook tablet could be a mixed bag for platform

RIM has announced that its upcoming PlayBook tablet will be able to run …

RIM has confirmed that its upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will be able to run third-party Android applications and BlackBerry Java applications. The move will open up the PlayBook to a broader ecosystem of existing software at launch, which could help to make the product more desirable.

RIM says that Android application compatibility on the PlayBook will be facilitated by an "app player" system that bundles Android runtime components. The Android app player is designed to support conventional Android phone software that is compatible with Gingerbread—it doesn't support programs that are built specifically for Google's Honeycomb tablet platform.

Developers who want to bring Android applications to the PlayBook will merely have to repackage the software and go through the process of submitting it to the BlackBerry App World store, where it will be made available to users alongside regular PlayBook applications. RIM's own standard application development framework for the PlayBook is based on HTML5 technologies. The PlayBook also supports Flash applications and Adobe AIR.

"The upcoming addition of BlackBerry Java and Android apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook on BlackBerry App World will provide our users with an even greater choice of apps and will also showcase the versatility of the platform," RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis said in a statement.

Apple currently holds the dominant position in the tablet market with its so-far unassailable iPad. The Android tablets that have launched so far show promise, but have fallen short of being truly competitive with the iPad. Android has considerable momentum in the smartphone market, however, which could help it to cement a strong position in the tablet space when Google remedies some of its current technical deficiencies. RIM will face an uphill battle as it attempts to attract developers to its own platform.

RIM is going to support as many different application frameworks as it can in order to maximize software availability. Of course, the problem with that strategy is that applications from other platforms won't integrate well with the PlayBook environment. RIM also runs the risk of undermining incentives for developers to create dedicated PlayBook applications by making it so easy for them to port their existing software from other platforms.

In addition to announcing support for Android and Blackberry Java applications, RIM also intends to release a native development kit that will allow third-party developers to take advantage of C and C++ to write performance-sensitive parts of their PlayBook applications. This move could help make the platform more appealing to game developers. RIM says that Unity Technologies, the company behind the popular Unity game development engine, will be supporting the PlayBook's operating system(<b>Update:</b> Unity Technologies contacted us to clarify that their relationship with RIM relates solely to game distribution through <a href="http://unity3d.com/union/">Union</a>. They do not have any plans at this time to support PlayBook in the Unity 3D engine).

RIM is entering the tablet market as an underdog and will have to work hard to gain credibility and be viewed as a serious contender. Honeycomb's incompleteness and Android's early stumble out of the tablet starting gate have created a window of opportunity for another player to stake a position. To get a strong start, RIM will have to compete with Android's burgeoning mindshare and Apple's highly polished user experience. Supporting Android applications seems like a good tool for harnessing the former but a poor way to compete with the latter.